Australia vs England, 2018: 4 Australians to watch out for

Australia have had a long list of ODI disappointments lately. And with each one of them, there has been an accompanying subtle excuse. In February 2017, they toured New Zealand without their premier batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner and lost 2-0 across the Tasman. June 2017, the rain followed them everywhere to majorly dent their chances as they endured their second consecutive Champions Trophy campaign going winless. In the limited-overs leg of their tour of India, they toured without their best bowlers in Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood and lost 4-1.

The run of losses came to a full circle when they lost 4-1 to England, that too at home, with no inclement weather to frown upon and no personnel absences to rue. This has been their worst sequence in ODIs ever since the mid-eighties. Even in the times when the team underwent transitions in the 2005-2009 period, never did they look like a weakened outfit. But now, the World Cup champions find themselves ranked fifth.

With a revamped squad, Australia will take on England later this month in a series of five ODIs as the first step in their quest to retain the trophy. They have a long way to go, but the side they have assembled has a lot of fresh faces, some newly introduced, some comebacks and some bolters with just a taste of international cricket and all of them will be vying to do well and draft themselves into World Cup contention. Here are four of these to look out for:

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D'Arcy Short

In an ideal world, Short would have been in the Indigenous XI taking on the MCC XI tonight in the series opener of their commemorative tour of the UK. But a whirlwind turnaround mainly owing to his BBL exploits for Hobart Hurricanes ensured that he got picked into the T20 side and then the ODI side despite having just 12 List-A games in his résumé, that too spread over a time span of eight years.

Short's rise has a story worth telling, but we'd rather look into his ability to pick the fast bowlers off their lengths and his clean hitting from ball one, illustrated by swiveling pick-up strokes. After a strong start to his international career as he scored 196 runs in 5 innings in the Trans-Tasman tri-series striking at almost 150, Short lost his way on the slower surfaces he played on in the IPL, with four single-digit scores in seven digs. A return to swifter ecosystems will give Short hope to get back to his rollicking ways.

He also bowls leg-spin, just in case Australia need one of that kind to spook the Poms.

Nathan Lyon

Garry a Nice prospect with the white ball?

Greatest post-war finger spinner Australia has ever had, but only 13 outings in ODIs over the course of six years, Nathan Lyon is certainly a curious contradiction. While it took him a bit of time to convince the world of his prowling ability in the Tests, he has never really been able to do that in white ball cricket. It is evident from the fact that he has been given opportunities in two consecutive series only twice.

His call-up, as much as is because of his impressive show in the Big Bash League (7 wickets in 4 matches), it has a lot to do with how he has stepped up for Australia in the Tests ever since the home debacle against South Africa, truly leading the team from the front despite being amongst the likes of the effortless run churners Smith and Warner and the towering scary quicks Starc and Cummins. It will be interesting to see whether he sticks to his traditional textbook style of off-spin or inculcates skills in his repertoire that will serve the specific demands of the format.

Jhye Richardson

2018 Alan Border Medal

Another gun from Western Australia who seem to have no dearth of talented pace bowlers, the rookie Richardson in the squad has been touted by many as a player to look out for in the long run, repeatedly emphasized by the new coach of the Australian side, Justin Langer. In his solitary ODI outing, Jhye picked up two wickets conceding runs at 5.8 compared to the team's 6.28. Banking on a pre-dominant back of the length ball, Richardson often hurries the batsmen with his pace and if he gets it right, he will be a handful against an English line-up that is more belligerent than deft.

He will be a good replacement for Cummins and while his death overs performance was not good in the Big Bash League, he will be an excellent option against a strong English middle order, in the intermediate overs, which the particular phase where they look to take the game away from the opposition. He will be the ideal player to set up things for Kane Richardson and Andrew Tye, who will be a threat against the lower order if he exposes it to them.

Tim Paine

Remember when it all started?

Without a state contract, stripped off the wicket-keeping duties in favor of the inter-state import Matthew Wade at the Hobart Hurricanes, contemplating quitting cricket to take up a humble employment at Kookaburra, this is what life was like for Tim Paine at the start of the Aussie summer.

Then he played one brief, albeit brutal counter-attack against the greatest England seamers of all time, when they were on song in tandem under the lights against the hooping pink ball at Adelaide and his world turned around. A national call-up out of the wilderness and justifying performances in the Ashes later, it now feels like Tim Paine never went out of the picture ever since his debut in 2010, with his magical comeback he made sure that he did not remain just another "could-have-been".

In South Africa, he displayed calmness under on and off-field pressure and seemed like the only one unaffected by everything falling apart around him as he became the stand-in skipper and even played courageous knocks with the bat. Given what circumstances are, Paine will now have the honor of leading the side going into the World Cup next year and his clean glovework, lower order cameos keeping the predating fast bowlers away from the tail-enders and shrewd captaincy will be interesting to observe in this ODI series.